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Other Cool Stuff

Other specialist, unique and interesting applications of measurement technology in industrial manufacturing and beyond

Coming Together for Greater Accuracy

Scanditronix Magnet AB in Vislanda, Sweden produces specialised coils and magnets with the highest accuracy and reliability. In the company’s large modern premises, approximately 30 employees develop and manufacture electromagnets for particle accelerators.

Visualise This! Design and Inspection Go Hand-in-Hand

Visual thinkers have always stoked the flames of invention. John Pawloski of Jewelers Machinists Co. Inc. (North Babylon, NY) comes from a long line of illustrious inventors. A distant grandfather was issued the 80thpatent in the United States signed by President Andrew Jackson (see patent).

Phased by Complexity and Deadlines? Not With Cabinet Vision and Alphacam

BA Haxby (Barnsley) Ltd focuses on bespoke shopfitting contracts, and some heritage work such as sliding sash windows. Alphacam Advanced Router had a major impact on a heritage job – reducing work that would otherwise have taken them around 50 hours, down to just 16 hours.

Sensor Solutions for Increased Measuring Accuracy and Flexibility

BSH Hausgeräte GmbH is one of the world’s leading companies in the home appliances sector. The company’s aim is to improve the quality of life and the consumer is at the center of all of BSH’s developments. In user experience labs set up specifically for this purpose, BSH repeatedly puts prototypes - in all phases of development - and finished products through their paces in real-life conditions.

Volume Optimized Cutting and Polishing of Uncut "Rough" Gemstones

Cutting and polishing gemstones – a craft involving profound knowledge and a long standing tradition of turning precious raw material into unique pieces of jewelry. Using a modern three-dimensional scanning technology now allows for a much improved utilization of the raw gemstone to become the perfectly cut and polished precious stone.

The New Life of an Old Radiator Mascot

Ford, Rolls Royce, Daimler and Benz – only a small selection of the illustrious names of the early beginnings of automotive manufacturing. Nowadays, car enthusiasts all over the world lovingly maintain and restore the few remaining classic cars, some of which are over 100 years old. Preserving the roadworthiness of these valuable antique cars however comes with a catch: Over the past years, it has become increasingly difficult to meet the demand for original fully functional spare parts.

Alphacam Toolpaths Cut Intricate Designs On 8-Metre Viking Pillars

A woodworking company wasn’t phased when an intricate eight-metre part was too big for its machine tool – it simply built a door in the side of the machining centre and supported the piece outside by mounting it on a cradle.

Battersea Arts Centre Project Prompts CNC And Software Investment

Winning a major contract for a series of intricate acoustic panels covering a 60-metre-long ceiling prompted a joinery company to invest in CNC machine tools and Alphacam CAD/CAM software to program them.

The picturesque Lake Constance, located near the rim of the Alpine region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is home to Krayer GmbH, a middle-sized company of about 50 employees specializing in the production of 3D forming parts. The company has a rich history, dating back to 1884, when Franz-Joseph Krayer founded a modest fabrication shop in the lakeside town of Langenargen. The business has weathered two world wars and the turbulent hyper-inflation times in-between, only to see its pressing equipment completely confiscated by the allied occupying forces right after the end of WWII. However, the company rose from the ashes and expanded, quickly making up the losses.

A company which pioneered both bespoke carcasses and nesting in the Irish Republic says the Cabinet Vision software which designs their products and drives their two CNC nesters, beam saw and boring machine, means they can produce exactly what customers want, and it saves on waste.

Edgecam Makes Food Industry Scrolling Kits A Piece Of Cake

A long-established Newbury-based engineering subcontractor has invested in a DMC machining centre and Edgecam software in order to win long-term new business from a food company.
Engineering Solutions & Supply Ltd were asked to manufacture complete kits of tooling to ensure that glass jars were in the right position at the right time on a conveyor system, to be filled with food products. It included feed scrolls and the associated base plates, base clamps, star heels and centre guides.

Under high pressure Stein-Moser Adjusts Waterjet Cutting System Using Laser Tracker

The ROMER Absolute Arm Measuring Device Ensures the Highest Quality of Modern Trams

Solaris - an ambassador of the Polish industry and its unquestionable symbol, a pioneer in its industry, currently recognised by millions of Poles who use public transport services, the manufacturer of state-of-the-art buses and trolleybuses, quite recently also invested in the manufacturing of trams. Solaris buses are known not only in Poland, but also in 24 European countries and in the United Arab Emirates. The Solaris logo, a green dachshund, represents the key features of their products: length, low floor and environmentally friendly characteristics. The ROMER Absolute Arm, a measuring machine from Hexagon Metrology, guarantees the highest quality of Solaris tram components.

Cabinet Vision Adapted For Revolutionary New Material

Cabinet Vision engineers have set up a customised program to manage an innovative manufacturing process for waterproof and bacteria-proof cabinets produced out of a specially developed unique material.

Retro But Fit

How can existing machines be kept up to current standards against the background of increasing quality assurance requirements? The solution is a retrofit. Thöni Manufacturing GmbH shows you how. Almost two decades old, its coordinate measuring machine recently made the grade on an improvement course thanks to a modernisation package from Hexagon Metrology.

Lifelong Absolute Accuracy For Industrial Robots

High speed tracking is one of the most stringent requirements for robot control, machine guidance and Metrology Assisted Assembly. Robot calibration, accuracy improvement of drilling machines or automation of wingto-body assembly are just some examples of machine control applications of Leica Laser Trackers.

3D Coordinate Measuring Machines ensure the form of bathroom taps

In Turkey they relax in a hammam. The Japanese freshen up in an ofuro. In lifestyle magazines it is increasingly considered as an individual wellness oasis - we are of course talking about the bathroom.

Automated Inspection for the Commuters Choice in Personal Transport

Owners of Brompton’s don’t just own a bicycle; they own a product which through its designs and innovations is built to last. The ability to fold the bike into a compact unit which can easily be taken on public transport is the fundamental element of its design.
With their commitment to excellence and the high quality expected by its customers the company has decided that now is the right time to invest in twenty first century measurement equipment in the form of a DEA GLOBAL Performance coordinate measuring machine (CMM).

Burr-Free First Time

Company Vorwerk check mould inserts and slides while still clamped on the machine tool using m&h’s touch probes and 3D Form Inspect software. A mould manufactured this way, with two sets of ten slides, was burr-free first time and released for volume production after the very first sample.

Economical Quality for All

By implementing a server licence for their m&h measuring software, Geberit has standardised the software of three plants in two countries. This has made the same functions available to all the people involved. The objective was to harmonise manufacturing equipment throughout all plants, make better use of licences within the group and reduce upkeep and maintenance expenses.

High-precision inspection for the European Extremely Large Telescope E-ELT

The race is on for who will manufacture 1,000 mirrors for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Cranfield University in the UK has begun work on producing seven of the mirror segments for ‘the world’s biggest eye on the sky’ with the aid of high accuracy measurement systems from Hexagon Metrology.
Built by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) the E-ELT, a ground-based telescope, will be 42m in diameter and made up of 1,000 hexagonal segments, each 1.5m wide and just 5cm thick. The E-ELT is four to five times larger and will gather 15 times more light than the largest optical telescopes operating today.

Maintenance Of Industrial Machine Installations

From the original and pioneering LTD-500 up to the modern and compact AT 401 Laser Trackers of Hexagon Metrology, allied to the great experience in advanced three dimensional measurements acquired throughout 14 years of history, Tecnimex do Brasil has become one of the major references in providing portable three dimensional metrology services in Latin America.

National Measurement Institute and Britiains Largest Applied Physics Organisation

Established at the turn of the twentieth century, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has been at the forefront of some of the world’s most important scientific breakthroughs including the development of radar and the automatic computer engine. Distinguished scientists such as Louis Essen, the inventor of the atomic clock, and Alan Turing, the computer science pioneer and Enigma machine codebreaker, spent parts of their careers working on projects at the NPL.

Alphacam Slashes Allwood Architectural Joinery’s Manufacturing Process for CNC, From a Day to an Hour

Cabinet Vision – From Start To Finish For Draks

Using Cabinet Vision as their sole CAD/CAM solution, home interior manufacturer Draks Interior Door Systems Ltd have been able to take jobs from design to finish in one single system, allowing a quick and smooth internal process.

After taking their first steps in 5-axis machining, a high-end, top quality furniture manufacturer quickly realised it was their best way forward, and also invested in a machine with two 5-axis heads, which is the first one of its kind in the UK.

Cabinet Vision And Alphacam: The “Backbone” Of Andrew Ryan Furniture

Originally focusing on high end kitchens, the company has diversified into full house fit-outs with drawing rooms, studies, libraries, bedrooms and dressing rooms. Operating out of a prestigious showroom and 25,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Wexford, Ireland, they also have a smaller showroom at Monaco in the South of France.

Alphacam “Provides The Line Of Least Resistance” For Solid Timber Specialist, Woodbase Joiners

Trifibre’s “Jigsaw” Nests In Alphacam Aid Bottom Line

It was an open and shut case when Leicester-based Trifibre were looking for CAD/CAM software to drive their new CNC router. They chose Alphacam. And now, around five years later, it programs their Biesse Rover, a Morbidelli, and their original small Pacer.

“Cabinet Vision’s nesting function is as important to us as the electricity supply in our workshop.” Those are the words of Jake Gregory, Business Development Manager at Burnley-based Crown Cabinets Ltd.

Joinery Company Finds Horizontal Routing Niche With Alphacam

Measurement and Assembly of Two Large Telescopes in the Arctic Circle

The advanced technology of Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence is playing a vital role in an ambitious and innovative project being completed in northern Norway. Asturfeito, a Hexagon customer in Spain for over five years, leads the project, which involves the installation of two large 13.5-metre diameter radio telescopes that will observe the universe around us from an isolated location within the Arctic Circle. The measurement and later assembly for this project has utilised the advanced technology of a Leica Absolute Tracker AT402.

Portable Metrology Helps Ensure Safety and Fairness at the Tour de France

Alphacam Makes The Mission Possible For Film Studios' Cavalry

Whenever a new job comes into a company that film studios describe as needing the “cavalry,” digital designer and CNC supervisor Jason Szukalski is instantly thinking how Alphacam CAD/CAM software will break it down into machinable parts.